Roomba Maker iRobot Kicks Up Dust on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of the self-propelling Roomba vacuum cleaner iRobot
(IRBT) - Get Report zipped higher on Friday after analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating.

Shares of the Bedford, Mass.-based company were up about 1% at $60.16 in morning trading after Bank of America Merrill Lynch initiated coverage with a buy recommendation and a one-year price target of $70.

iRobot in July warned that the ongoing China-U.S. trade kerfuffle would affect its full-year earnings, specifically the first set of 25% tariffs implemented this past summer, which it said "are likely to constrain U.S. market segment growth in the second half of the year below our expectations at the start of 2019."

iRobot expects full-year 2019 revenue of between $1.2 billion and $1.25 billion, full-year 2019 operating income of between $75 million and $100 million, and full-year per-share earnings of between $2.40 and $3.15.

iRobot was founded in 1990 by three members of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab who designed robots for space exploration and military defense.

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